Czech presidential vote: a society divided

This
Saturday's election saw the victory of former PM Milos Zeman over current
Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. The duel between a decried populist and an
old-school aristocrat revealed a division previously unseen in modern Czech
society.

A few days
before the first round of the presidential election, Charles University
sociologist Martin C. Putna described the vote as an historic event in which
the Czechs are “subconsciously electing their king”.

Putna
claimed that this inadvertent royal tradition rests on two factors. The first
is the presidential residence – Prague Castle located in the heart of the
capital and situated on a minor hill overlooking the city – which has been the
seat of Czech monarchs since the ninth century. The second factor is
the Czech Crown Jewels, stored in the St. Vitus Cathedral inside the Prague
Castle complex, the fourth oldest coronation vestments in Europe. Both the
Prague Castle and the Crown Jewels are among the major symbols of contemporary
Czech sovereignty, nationalism and statehood even though they are intrinsically
linked to a regal tradition.

Whether the
Czechs were looking for their king in their first ever direct presidential
election or not, they were faced with a decision between two candidates representing
entirely different values. From the perspective of a presumed royal tradition,
the names of both candidates foretold their roles in the election. Karel
Schwarzenberg (the current Foreign Minister, a nobleman and head of the House
of Schwarzenberg – an Austrian-Czech aristocratic family) would represent the
higher echelons of society, while Milos Zeman (whose last name literally
translates as “laird” or member of the lesser gentry) would epitomize the lower
classes of Czech society. This, in fact, proved to be accurate as Schwarzenberg
found his voters mainly amongst the higher middle class, students and in larger
cities. Zeman, on the other hand, had his base in the country-side and among
classes with smaller incomes.

During the
campaign, and especially in the last two weeks between the first and second
round, Zeman chose a more offensive approach than Schwarzenberg. Bringing up
issues which added a nationalist tone to the election, Zeman accused his opponent
of maligning former president Edvard Benes and the expulsion of Sudeten Germans
after World War II. He also pointed out that Schwarzenberg’s wife lives in
Austria and does not speak Czech and that Schwarzenberg himself lived as an emigrant during the communist era.

For his
comments on the matter of Sudetenland, the German magazine Die Welt has already proposed not to invite Zeman for an official state
visit since he won the presidency on an artificially-produced wave of anti-German
sentiment.

Zeman is
well-known for his populism and at times vulgar remarks and thus his campaign
style barely surprised anyone. Compared to Schwarzenberg (whose Czech is not
perfect and who, in his own words, “mumbles”), Zeman is a very dexterous
speaker and is not afraid to use half-truths to solidify his arguments. Schwarzenberg,
on the other hand, attempted to carry out his campaign in a rather defensive
manner, avoiding personal attacks and populist rhetoric.

In addition
to having an inclination towards populism, Zeman openly despises the media. In
the late nineties, he claimed that “the stupidest creature on Earth is the
contemporary Czech journalist”. After the election, he has moderated his tone,
saying that he would accept questions from “intelligent journalists”. The truly
disturbing fact about Zeman’s relationship with the media is that during his
time as a prime minister (1998-2002) he led an unsuccessful effort to ruin the
weekly newspaper Respekt, which
investigated sensitive political cases concerning Zeman’s government.

As the
popular vote gives the new Czech president a theoretically stronger mandate than
former presidents who were indirectly elected by members of parliament, Zeman
promised to be a more active head of state and use all powers granted to him by
the constitution. However, some analysts are concerned that Zeman may go as far
as misusing his constitutional powers for the sake of pursuing his own policies
and influencing legislative voting. But hopefully, Zeman has no plan to hinder
the democratic process in the Czech Republic.

Nevertheless,
the vote left Czech society divided into two opposing blocks and it was
perhaps the aggressive tactics that Zeman selected in his campaign that prompted
this rift. Each candidate represented a different “current” or “ethos” within
the Czech society. Slovak newspaper Hospodarske
noviny summed up the election as a decision between the “Masaryk tradition
and the Havel ethos” (embodied by Schwarzenberg) or “the tradition of vulgar,
communist-era, crony-capitalist politics” (embodied by Zeman). For the
supporters of Zeman, this allegation is unacceptable since their candidate has announced a programme to eradicate corruption and the ties between big business
and politics – however, the voters of Schwarzenberg in part perceived this
election as a step in which to uphold the “Havel ethos”.

The rift
was further deepened as outgoing president Vaclav Klaus surprisingly used
(rather abused) Vaclav Havel’s motto, claiming that in the presidential
election “truth and love have triumphed over lies and hatred”. This was
obviously an ironic and scathing remark from Klaus, who has never hidden his dislike
of former president Havel. Klaus’s comment indirectly offended not only
Schwarzenberg, but also his 2.2 million voters.

It is now
up to the president-elect to bridge the gaps the election created within Czech
society. In his first public speech after the votes were counted, Zeman stated
he would be the president of the “lower ten million” of Czech citizens and
commended the voters of Schwarzenberg for being politically-active citizens. This
was the first step to consolidate the voters of both sides and embrace the two voting
blocks, but it is certainly not enough.

In order to
overcome his shadow and unite the two opposing blocks, Zeman must show that he
is a president of all the people – not just his own voters. Despising the
journalists will not help. Investigative reporters are an inalienable part of
democracy, not a hindrance, and as Czech voters demand more transparency in
government and anti-corruption measures, journalists have a vital role in
society. Zeman must show that he respects the democratic process and the
institutional checks and balances. He must also demonstrate that he has terminated his former ties to lobbyists and éminences
grises of the 1990s’ Czech political scene. If Zeman fails to meet these
objectives, he will ultimately fail in consolidating a divided society.

About the author

Jan Hornát is a lecturer at Charles University in Prague and Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations, Prague.

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